Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

All last week I was just throwing my hair back in a pony tail, so I knew it was time for a big change. I was tired of the mess on my head and it was finally long enough to make the required minimum donation of 10" for Locks of Love.

Bumble & Bumble never called me back for the hair modeling. I like their products and for a high end salon the prices were high but not outrageous - I decided they were the place that was going to cut my hair. I called on Thursday and had a appointment for Friday evening. The place is like a beehive - so much activity. There are at least 20 stylists and about 10 assistants along with receptionists, hair washers, a coat check girl, janitors, and the cafe workers. Yes, cafe workers - they have a little cafe area with complimentary beverages and light snacks (the snacks had low prices, $2 for sliced apple and peanut butter).

A receptionist brings you back to coat check where you check your coat and get your cute black robe. After changing you wait in the cafe for your stylist (I had a plain ice tea). The stylist's assistant then brings you over to your stylist. She did a consultation on what I wanted - then for me she made the Locks of Love cut. I really liked my hair after the first cut - I could have left at that point and been perfectly happy. After my first cut the stylist brought me over to the shampoo area and instructed the washer on which products to use. (I had the 'gentle' shampoo and conditioner, because my hair needs moisture.) The shampoo was awesome - the best chair ever. The shampoo chair was a massage chair and it raised up so your neck wasn't at an awkward angle during the wash. After the shampoo the washer gives you a little neck and shoulder massage - heaven.

Then back to the stylist for the cut. After the cut the assistant does the blow out. Rocco was in charge of my blowout, he was great. I started asking him why he was using a flat brush and then he went in to great detail about how I should dry my hair. He explained every step, maybe I'll have a chance of recreating the salon look at home. When the blow out is done the stylist comes back for the finishing touches (more styling and a little bit of cutting). She also had her assistant write out a list of all the products they used on my hair, you leave with a personalized shopping list of their fabulous products.

My hair is really short, I totally love it. It's a very sassy cut.

Finally - the photos!


Before:

After:

Bad Habits

I know my posts have dwindled over the last few days - first it has been really busy at work. And, well, I'm a bit gun shy...seems that my last post was picked up by Google alerts and now many of my co-workers have had a glimpse in to the life and times of KO. I understand I post to the world. But it is a little different when all of a sudden anonymous readers now have names and faces. So welcome to any new readers who are coming back for a little more 90th and KO. Enjoy the cat photos!

OK, I've been meaning to write about this for days - bad habits. We all have them, even the cats. With our cats it seems that each one has a different bad habit.

Sadie is all about consumption - she eats too fast and too much. When she is hungry she'll wake you up, cry, and dance about until she is fed. She is also pretty quick to anger (probably because she is hungry all of the time). She is surprisingly spry and is fast with the whapping paw when the mood strikes (literally).

Trixie doesn't always like to use the facilities properly - she is better now that we understand her issues with the 'box'.

Beckham has a sensitive stomach and tends to throw up on a regular basis. He's pretty good about hitting hard surfaces, I guess he has learned over the years.

And finally - the only bad habit suitable for photographing. Roxy the furniture scratcher:




If you look closely at her front left paw you can see something white and fuzzy. This was attached to her dew claw, a nice fluffy piece of couch stuffing. When I was in CA she had a tender paw - as soon as she put her foot down, she would immediately pick it back up as if in great pain. Michael did some triage and as it turns out, she had a piece of couch foam stuck in between her toes! Think if she actually stepped on something sharp....

As for me I have plenty of bad habits. Right now I'm trying to work on my love of 'stuff'. I like 'things', I like to shop for 'things', I like to buy things, I like to have things, I like to make 'things'. In a small apartment my 'things' seem to have taken over every available space. Time for some spring cleaning and organizing (does that mean I get to buy some organizational 'things'? ).

REV Rocks!

Among the many many reason why I love working for Iomega, I have one more thing to add to the list.

This afternoon Fed Ex delivered an unexpected package. It turns out to be a cute little marketing promo for our latest product launch - REV 120.

So not only is our marketing team coming up with the ideas to tie the REV 120 product launch in with Pop Rocks and Rockstar energy drink, but HR makes sure even the people in Iomega Manhattan are included.

The other great thing about the package was the packing label; it was addressed to Iomega Corp and then our NYC address - at last, official company recognition for IOM Manhattan!

(A quick aside - last week when I was working in SD a new employee was being introduced around the office. Of course I said I work in the Manhattan office. She just smiled and moved on - how long before she realizes I was just talking about my apartment?)

But of course there is a dark side to everything. I was looking at the calorie info....wuh wuhh. The can of energy drink is 16 ounces - two servings. If you drink the entire can it is 280 calories, and 62g of carbs - all sugar. Interestingly enough the Pop Rocks are almost healthy. The entire package is one serving for a measly 34 calories and 9.5g of carbs - 8g of sugar.

Do you think if you eat the Pop Rocks and drink the carbonated energy drink at the same time your head will explode?

Oh and if you want to check out Iomega's latest and most fabulous product, REV 120, for yourself go to: www.iomega.com

My personal favorite Iomega products are the new eGo 2.5" external hard drives. They look great, come in a range of fun colors, and they are very easy to use.

Glove Bunnies (and Glove Puppy)

One of my latest projects has been glove bunnies!



(And one glove puppy.)



I saw this cute craft on Martha Stewart. They looked so easy and adorable I planned on making dozens to send as Easter surprises. Well my forecasted production turned out to be much less than the actual production. It was hard to find the gloves and even harder to find the polyfiberfill for stuffing. Luckily my thread, embroidery floss, and button inventory was high.



I started with Glove Puppy. I think he sort of looks like a Boxer.







Next a few glove bunnies.





The whole softie gang - less a few of their buddies that were gifted.

(The brown gloves are supposed to remind you of chocolate bunnies.)



Because I know you all want to make your own glove bunny - here is a link to the templates and instructions on the Martha Stewart web site:

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/glove-animals?lnc=bf89cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=photogallery_crafts_crafts_crafts_p3



If the link doesn't work, just search under 'glove animals' on the Martha Stewart website. http://www.marthastewart.com/



The creator of the glove animal has written an entire book with lots of different animals. I did get the book (from Amazon.com). If you want to make just the dog and bunny the directions on the MSL website are identical to the instructions in the book. But the book does have (among other animals) a cute cat, elephant, pig, and bird that I really want to make.



Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves (Paperback)by Miyako Kanamori (Author)



The author uses gloves that do not have distinct right and left side. I could only find gloves that did have a distinct left and right, so I did have to modify her instructions to make my little animals look right. It is pretty easy to look at the glove and make it work!

No Foolin'

Well I was trying to think of something cute as an April Fool's Day blog - but prank well was dry, so you just get an update.

Most of you know last week was a whirlwind of travel.

I started in So Cal with the family for Easter.

Of course there was an Easter egg hunt.

Our E. Bunny was feeling rather clever so he hid what I called 'rotten eggs', the kinder name was 'chore eggs'. Yes, that is right, some of the eggs were filled with not candy, not money, but chores! For some reason the kids didn't seem to mind. I think they liked finding the eggs and didn't really think about what was in them. In fact David thought he could turn his tickets in for at the movie theatre to see a movie!

Little CJ mostly looked for eggs in the water feature. He didn't find anything but some flighty gold fish.

Unlike Easter in NYC last year (it was snowing), the weather was a very warm 85 degrees. But I was cool as a cucumber driving around in my rental car. Hertz offered me a free upgrade to a Mustang hard top in bright red. It was nice having some muscle on the freeway!

Sunday night I drove down to SD to work out of the IOM office. During the day it was the usual office grind, but at night I managed to squeeze in a cruise planning meeting, a trip to Bev Mo, and a visit with Mel.

Early (3am early) Thursday morning I flew to UT to the Roy IOM office. I haven't been to UT in 2 years, it was about time for a visit. I was absolutely brain dead on Thursday - but I survived. My reward was shopping at the most fabulous scrapbook store. UT is really the craft headquarters. I am stocked up on scrapbook supplies, material for blankets, and I even picked up a new (to me) craft called 'punch embroidery'. Now I just need to figure out where to store my new stock of supplies.

I flew out of UT Saturday morning and was pleased to have Michael waiting for me at the airport. He helped me carry an extra bag full of clothes and craft supplies. I hit up Target and Old Navy. At Old Navy I found a small stack of cashmere sweaters marked down to $9.99 from $69.50 - well that was a deal I couldn't pass. I found a really cute faux wrap dress at Ross for $16.99, I saw the exact same dress at a cute little boutique in the UT airport for $56.99 (it was even the same name brand). I was so pleased. And possibly Mel has a formal dress for the cruise, if it doesn't work for the cruise she is set if she ever goes on a reality t.v. dating series!

It was a great trip - but I'm happy to be back at my desk in IOM Manhattan!